Today I will be uncovering what you should use to host your Blog in the best way, for both your business AND you!
Disclaimer: there may be affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. I only recommend what I personally use and enjoy!
I understand we all just want to achieve our financial freedom, and preserve our time and energy as much as possible, so for the girlies who don’t have any time at all, I will go straight to the point and say:
◉ Bluehost is my personal recommendation!
◉ How much? The cheapest plan is for only £2.31/month: Basic Plan. I went for the Choice Plus which was £4.26/month, for the added privacy features, but the Basic Plan is perfectly fine if that suits your needs best!
◉ What’s included? Domain Name hosting; you select the name for your domain, which is what will read after “www.” Make sure this is consistent with your brand name, so it makes it easier for your audience to discover you.
◉ Why Bluehost? All of the top Bloggers use and recommend this platform; the reputable nature of the company reflects the value it provides us, as customers, and Business owners, and Bluehost is also Queen when it comes to affordability, which is perfect for beginners or even established 6-figure Bloggers.
I know, also, for many of you, you may become skeptical by the fact that I am an affiliate for Bluehost, and how this may influence my judgement, but this is only because I use and trust Bluehost, so it makes sense to have an affiliate link for extra online earnings, since I’ve spent money on it already, and only have good things to say about it (more content on affiliate marketing on my Blog coming soon!). Therefore, do not worry, this comes as my genuine opinion and personal experience, this far.
Now, for those who want more of a walkthrough, keep on reading girlie!
context
If you don’t know what I mean by “host”, then I assume you must be just beginning your Blogger journey, or curious to, then be sure to check-out my other blog posts! No fluff, just links, platforms, and steps to follow. We are all about saving as much of your time, as a busy girlie in your 20s, getting the job done, without sacrificing on quality.
When you hear “hosting”, in regards to Blogging, it is in other words, a secure way of storing online content in a way that is accessible to anyone.
Without web-hosting, there is no Blog. You may have a website, but no one will be able to see it, because you have no web-hosting. Starting to get it?
So, I will be going into detail to walk you through how to web-host your Blog, and how to set this up in only 5 minutes (I mean it; after reading this blog post you’ll know exactly what to do and how to do, and if not, just come back and you’ll have all the SCREENSHOTS).
We are also all about realism here, so this is NOT one of them moments someone online tells you it will be super fast, and it actually isn’t. It took ME only a few minutes to actually do the process.
If you have signed up to receive the free “Launch your Blog in 30 Days” list, you will have the full list of steps to complete, with named platforms. However, here, I will dive deeper into details of pricing, plans, and what you can consider along the way, so you can spend as little time on all of the technicalities, and more on getting your content out there.
I will always say it is best for you to start off by spending as little to no money possible when starting off your Blog, unless you feel it will significantly increase your return-on-investment (bring you back more returns from what you are investing in).
Nonetheless, there are costs we cannot escape, but don’t worry I will share with you the full breakdown of everything I have spent this far (60 days into Blogging), so you can feel more relieved (hopefully), since some of my costs were out of preference, and not necessity. Scroll all the way down if you would like to know!
Cutting it straight to the point though, you will only really NEED to spend money on hosting, which is why this blog post is so important, since if we are spending money, then let it be a valuable and smart investment for our Blogging Business.
A smart and valuable investment to all Bloggers, starting off, or more advanced, is to use Bluehost for web-hosting your Blog website.
Definitely feel free to do your own research, if you feel it is best, but in this post, I have condensed all you need to know for you; straight to the point.
why Bluehost?
I’ll start off by putting it quite clearly; if the most successful Bloggers all use Bluehost, then I would already assume this is a good starting point. When I first found out about Bluehost, it was through one of the most successful Bloggers I follow, which is Perfect Blogging by Sophia Lee.
Even if they are all affiliates, they use the platform, and therefore must have something good to say about it, if they are recommending this (I would hope).
Nevertheless, we want to make sure this is the case, since this is our Business we are entrusting Bluehost with.
So, when we look at the company, and do some research, we can see:
- Over 2 million websites are hosted on Bluehost (LeadIQ)
- Bluehost websites average out at an 85% faster speed than other web-hosts: crucial to our business! (Top10-webhosting)
- There is only a 1-year commitment, unlike other web-hosts that require longer. This instills trust and allows us to test out the web-host without committing years at the very start (Forbes Advisor).
Of course, it is not a PERFECT web-host; we can also find reviews that don’t report so greatly on other elements, however in my personal experience, I have found no problems, and for the affordability that it comes at; the quality service is exceptional.
You can always change later on, if you have a different experience to mine, but chances are, you will have no problems at all, and be spending only about £2.31 per month; less than a Starbucks at this rate!
Disclaimer: since the commitment is for 1-year, you will be asked to pay 12 months upfront, however, this still only works out to being about £30 to £40 max (tax included) which is honestly amazing.
Let’s get you signed up!
the screenshot step-by-step
Come back and follow along the screenshots to give you some comfort, in getting your web-host, and don’t worry, if you’re feeling slightly scared at this point, I did too! But push through, and we are all about challenging ourselves to get to our dream life, and reassuring ourselves by rewiring our views of fear in the process of accomplishing our wildest dreams!
So, let’s gooooo!
When selecting your plan, you will see something like this:
Take a few seconds to confirm whether the Basic plan of £2.31 fulfils your Blog’s needs, and the rest will only take a minute of your time!
- Press Select
- Register your domain (your brand name)
3. and checkout!
At checkout, you will see a few additional features as such:
I personally did not get any add-ons, since the plan you purchase should have all of the basic features to ensure your website is safe, and secure. Specially as a new beginner Blog, I wouldn’t worry too much about this.
To make sure your Blog is as safe as possible, instead of spending more money, I would advise focusing more on plugins, which I go into a bit more in my other blog post here.
conclusions
- Is a huge, reputable company used by the most successful Bloggers.
- Has very affordable plans to make sure you get the quality web-hosting, without having to break the bank.
- Does what it is supposed to; provides you with a secure space for you to store and share your content with others.
- Does NOT take time at all to set-up, specially when you follow my screenshot step-by-step above.
- I have had the very best experience with Bluehost so far.
- Is the BEST Blog hosting platform for any Bloggers, beginner or well established.
It is now down to you what you choose to do with all these insights, but if it’s not obvious enough. I couldn’t recommend Bluehost more for web-hosting your Blog.
It can be extremely time consuming to research and think too much about these technical steps at the very start of launching your Blog, but don’t spend too much time thinking; be sure to also TAKE ACTION.
Sign-up to Bluehost today, and join me in successfully growing your Blog to heights you cannot even imagine yet!
exposing my expenses
For those of you who wanted a cheeky insight into my Business expenses, this far, into my Blogging journey (a little over 2 months now), then here we have it…
- £40 Bluehost for 1-year: web-hosting for this Blog
- £27 Etsy One-Time Payment: more aesthetic Blog theme
- £46 Elementor Pro for 1-year: theme editor for the theme I purchased
- £7 Convertkit per month: for the best email marketing there is for beginners!!!
Altogether, the costs add-up to £147, but with only £34 being on a monthly, recurring basis; and £86 being on an annual, recurring basis.
As I mentioned before, most of my costs were out of preference, but the only really essential one is hosting for our Blogs.
I hope this has made you feel more reassured about taking the first step, because that is all it really takes; taking the first step. Once you do, you have already taken action and are closer to your dream life working for yourself!